Why church and state separation is so crucial

Recently one of our Sunday School teachers made this statement: “I think those who kill unborn children should be killed.”

I agree. In the same way any murderer deserves to be killed (Genesis 9.6). From what I heard, some of the pushback in the class revolved around how it is not the church’s decision to punish evildoers, and how we should have compassion on sinners on this side of the cross.

In response to the idea that the church is not supposed to decide the punishment of criminals, I agree. It is God’s decision. And He has stated in His Word that murderers should be killed for their crime. So when I say I think a murderer should be killed, I am only agreeing with God (for the record, I think the application of Genesis 6.9 is capital punishment, whatever form that may take in a given government). I am not saying that the church should kill murderers. That is ridiculous. But I am saying that the right thing for the government to do is to punish evildoers (Romans 13.4).

In response to the idea that we should have compassion on sinners on this side of the cross, I agree. We, the church, should have compassion on sinners. We should pray for the salvation of all sinners. However, it is not the role of government to have compassion on sinners. Just as the church should not decide on how criminals should get punished, the church should not decide how criminals should not get punished either. There is no such thing as a Christian nation, except for the church (1 Peter 2.9-10).

So pray for less crime. Pray for the state to be harsh toward criminals to curb sin in the world. And pray for all those on death row to hear the gospel, believe, and spend eternity with us!